CHICK SHORTEN

GAMBLING WITH HARRY FRAZEE ...
Chick Shorten's 11th inning walk-off gives
Dutch Leonard the win

August 4, 1917 ... Dutch Leonard had to labor for 11 innings to finally beat the Cleveland Indians, on a fine single by Chick Shorten to drive in Larry Gardner with the winning run and a 3 to 2 final score. It was no fault of Dutch that the battle had to go on as long as it did, as he pitched one of his best games of the season here at Fenway Park. He had the victory apparently tucked safely away in the eighth when errors by Jack Barry and Duffy Lewis, and a single by Ray Chapman, allowed Cleveland to tie the game.

Leonard held the visitors to five hits, fanning eight of them, with many coming when it did a lot of good. He only passed two men, issuing both walks in the opening inning. He also hit safely once himself. Stan Coveleski was on the mound for Cleveland and had to battle his own wildness, as the innings where the Red Sox scored runs, started with base on balls. Though the Red Sox reached him for six blows, Coveleski was hit hard and very efficiently.

Effective use of the sacrifice bunt by the Red Sox was the way of winning the game. They resorted to bunting seven times, once completing suicide squeeze by Everett Scott and Duffy Lewis in the seventh inning.

Jack Barry, himself, played a tight game, going out to the foul line in right field for Jack Graney's smash in the first inning. Three times he worked the Cleveland spitballer for passes and his double was the foundation of which his team made their first run. Chick Shorten made several dazzling catches in center field, one off Tris Speaker in the sixth inning. All the boys struggled hard to win for Dutch. Duffy Lewis got two hits, driving in the first run and scoring another himself.

In the fourth inning the Red Sox opened the scoring, getting a run without a hit. Dick Hoblitzell bunted with Barry on first, who then Steve O'Neill's peg to second. Both moved along when Larry Gardner's sacrificed, and Barry scored on a long sacrifice fly by Lewis out to Speaker.

The Indians tied it up in the fifth inning but the Red Sox went ahead again in their half of the seventh inning. The squeeze put the Sox in the lead. Lewis crashed a double to left that started things off. A fine sacrifice bunt by Shorten put him on third, and then Scotty and Duffy put on the squeeze. O'Neill fielded the ball but got neither man and then unsuccessfully argued that Duffy never touched the plate.

In the eighth-inning Barry fumbled a ground ball off the bat of Graney. He scored when Chapman singled out to left and the ball got by Duffy to tie up the game. Chapman made it to third but was out trying to score when Speaker hit a hard grounder to Barry who threw a strike to Sam Agnew at the plate.

The Red Sox had a man on in both the ninth and tenth innings, but could not bring him around. Finally in the 11th, Gardner walked, moved to second on a sacrifice by Duffy and scored when Shorten slammed the ball to left field, giving the Sox a 3 to 2 walkoff.